All Posts by Graham Mills

Graham Mills of 12 volt boating group show us how to wire a narrowboat from start to finish. The first part looks in detail at planning, positioning and plotting electrical items and power points, and shows us how to measure cable lengths needed.

I know it is the start of winter and the sun is not very strong or warming. But now is the time to be thinking about adding or upgrading the boat’s solar panels to be able to take advantage of the free charging as soon as it seriously starts in Mar/April. Now is the time to start thinking. :)

Time after time I hear people say I charge my batteries for an hour or two in the morning and the same in the evening and I cringe knowing people are damaging and shortening the life of their batteries.

There are occasions when I get a message and photo that causes me to drop everything and get in the car and drive. The attached photo, received a while ago, was one such occasion. There are some that will say they know the problem and I could have dealt with it by messenger but things are not always as simple as they first seem.

The best way to connect batteries together is a way that makes sure that the power is drawn from and sent to all the batteries in a bank identically, so that all the batteries get used equally and charged equally and live their full lives. Incorrectly wired banks cause batteries to have a shortened life.

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